Ralph Salomons, Chair

Practical planning

At its August meeting, Council set a practical course for the next two years of its business plan. Though it had to face some tough decisions with respect to the budget and the business plan initiatives, Council members are confident the course they have chosen will give RECA a strong foundation to be able to carry out its mandate into the future. Council’s approach will ensure a strong and responsible future of self-regulation for our respective industries.

Brokerage adopts designated agency

A Calgary-area brokerage, Royal LePage Foothills, has declared itself as a designated agency brokerage as of September 1, 2009. Royal LePage Foothills, which has more than 200 registered industry members, is the first brokerage to adopt designated agency. RECA worked closely with Royal LePage Foothills throughout its decision-making and implementation process answering questions on the practical aspects of how designated agency would work on a daily basis. In addition, to assist brokerages in making the transition to designated agency, RECA has prepared a number of tools such as:

• Exclusive Buyer and Seller Designated Brokerage Agreements;
• Non-exclusive Designated Brokerage Agreement for Buyers;
• Interim seller agreements for commercial and agricultural real estate; and,
• Designated Agency Practice Guide for Industry Members.

all of which are available on the RECA website at www.reca.ca

“Formally adopting designated agency business practices made sense to me. The expectations of buyers and sellers are that their industry member will act in their best interests unless that person is acting for both parties,” says Ted Zaharko, broker of Royal LePage Foothills. “We realized that in our current business practices, we were essentially working as designated agents, but we needed to formally adopt documentation and forms to match the practices within the brokerage.”

Because the agency relationship is between the client and the designated agent(s), designated agency eliminates the conflicts of interest that commonly arise in a brokerage when two industry members from the same brokerage represent the buyer and seller in the same transaction. Designated agency enables industry members to act as sole agents and provide full fiduciary duties to all clients except in the limited circumstance where the same designated agent(s) represents the buyer and seller in the same transaction.

New leadership

This Regulator message marks the last time I will be providing an update on Council activities as my term as Council chair will end on October 31; a new chair will be elected at Council’s November meeting. My time as Chair has been a rewarding experience for me as it has given me the opportunity to closely work with 11 hard-working, knowledgeable and supportive Council members for the betterment of our industries.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank outgoing members of Council for their hard work and dedication. Both Pat Rudiger, who has been a member of Council for the past six years as an appointee of the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA), and Chris Anderson, who joined Council in November 2006 as the non-AREA appointee, have made invaluable contributions to Council’s work. Their knowledge, expertise and desire to strengthen our industry will be greatly missed around the Council table.

In closing, I owe sincere thanks to Bob Myroniuk, executive director of RECA, and his staff for their hard work and tireless dedication in performing Council’s mandate and moving Council’s many business plan initiatives forward.

  

 

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